Naomi O'Leary

Europe

Producer and Host at The Irish Passport Podcast

Europe Correspondent at Irish Times

Irish Times Europe Correspondent on leave. Host of the Irish Passport podcast. Previously with Reuters, Politico, AFP. Keep calm and report the facts.

Articles

Luxembourg landlord Marc Godart renting beds to refugees in premises without fire certificate

Jun 3, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Naomi O'Leary

The Luxembourg-based landlord Marc Godart is renting beds in a Dublin property that does not have a fire certificate to refugees who are paying him in cash and using their receipts to be reimbursed by the State. The property is a converted former commercial space on the ground floor of an apartment development near Talbot Street, Dublin 1.
Rogue general in Libya serviced by several western companies in apparent breach of UN embargo

Apr 4, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Naomi O'Leary

An Italian company provided helicopter transport to the Libyan general Khalifa Haftar as he attended a military event, an investigation by The Irish Times has found. The use of the helicopter illustrates a wider issue of western private companies providing services to the rogue general as he seeks to solidify control of eastern Libya.
Who is Khalifa Haftar and what is the UN arms embargo on Libya?

Apr 3, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Naomi O'Leary

A veteran player in Libya’s power struggles, the 80-year-old rogue general Khalifa Haftar controls much of eastern Libya and is a challenger to the Tripoli-based government that is recognised by the United Nations. Haftar was among the officers who helped bring former leader Muammar Gadafy to power in a coup in 1969 before falling afoul of the long-time Libyan ruler and going into exile as an opposition figure in the United States.
What if your salary was tax free and materials were taxed instead?

Mar 14, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Naomi O'Leary
EU civil servants break ranks to stage rare public protest calling for ceasefire in Gaza

Mar 7, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Naomi O'Leary

The sight was a highly unusual one: rows of European Union civil servants on a pedestrian island between two EU headquarters in central Brussels, gathered around a home-made protest banner reading “EU Staff for Immediate Ceasefire”. On either side the demonstrators held up printed messages reading “Civil Servants Demand Ceasefire in Gaza”.
Fine Gael in awkward position as European politics shifts right

Feb 29, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Naomi O'Leary

When all five Fine Gael MEPs voted in favour of the Nature Restoration Law in the European Parliament this week, for fellow members of their political group it was yet another betrayal. The European People’s Party (EPP) president Manfred Weber of Germany had personally led a campaign to kill the landmark biodiversity Bill.
Ireland urged to screen companies that maintain subsea cables

Feb 23, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Naomi O'Leary

Ireland must take action to ensure that submarine cables are secure, and put the private companies that build and maintain the cables under the highest level of security screening, the European Commission has said in a new document published this week. The EU executive recommended given the “current context of heightened risk and antagonistic man-made security threats” it was essential for all member states to assess the vulnerability of undersea cables and take steps to protect them.
Ireland misses out on bid to host new EU anti-money laundering agency

Feb 22, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Naomi O'Leary

Ireland has missed out on a bid to host the European Union’s new anti-money laundering agency after a secret ballot of member states and European Parliament representatives swung in favour of Frankfurt as the location for the headquarters. Dublin had been among nine cities vying to host the new agency, which would bring at least 400 jobs and is being established to enforce new anti-money laundering legislation led by Ireland’s commissioner Mairead McGuinness.
Ireland faces battle to secure EU anti-money laundering agency

Feb 22, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Naomi O'Leary

Ireland is set for a difficult battle to win the headquarters of a new European Union anti-money laundering agency that would bring 400 jobs to Dublin, faced with scepticism in the European Parliament and heavy lobbying by France and Germany. The 27 EU member states and representatives of the parliament’s political groups vote together in a secret ballot on Thursday to choose which city should host the agency, known as Amla.
Poland seeks to reverse dismantling of the rule of law

Feb 22, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Naomi O'Leary

In late 2020 a Polish woman in her mid-30s, known only by the initials ML, found out that she was pregnant. Tests revealed that her baby would have a disability. She got booked in to have an abortion in a Polish hospital on January 28th, 2021, a procedure that had been legal in Poland on grounds of foetal abnormalities since 1993. But powerful political forces in Poland had other ideas.